WWALS Watershed Coalition advocates for conservation and stewardship of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee River watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Tag Archives: quality

Recently I was asked if there would be water monitoring costs to cities or counties because of upgrading our main Suwannee River Basin waters in Georgia from Fishing to Recreational, as we have requested in Georgia’s Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards.
Here’s the answer, as best I could determine.
And how you can help.
For those who wonder why upgrade from Fishing to Recreational, please see the previous blog post.

Specifically the question was:
would reclassifying rivers or swamp from Fishing to Recreational cause cities or counties to have to spend more money on water quality monitoring, specifically if a wastewater treatment plant had a spill, more money on water quality sampling afterwards?

The brief answer is: probably not.

Recently, I asked James A. Capp, Chief, Watershed Protection Branch, EPD.
He said that for that case, there should be no change, because sampling after a spill is determined mostly by the number of gallons spilled.

I’ll leave it to SGRC’s Elizabeth Backe to summarize that meeting.
For now, suffice it to say that I think I did get them to mention the Suwannee River in many places where it previously was not,
and I think also water trails and Suwannee Riverkeeper.

What:
“We will be discussing the Policies and Community Work Program and Report of Accomplishments sections (5 and 6) of the Comprehensive Plan. If you are not able to attend this workshop, please feel free to send me any suggestions or comments by email.” –Elizabeth Backe, ebacke@sgrc.us

At the first Workshop, Ms. Backe used an initial discussion on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) to motivate the detailed
walk-through of part of the planning document. Continue reading →

Clearcutting of upland forests,
due process failures at the public hearing,
spot zoning, violations of local ordinances,
and failure to adhere to the Brooks County’s own Comprehensive Plan
are among the grounds on which landowners are going to sue to overturn
the Commission’s unanimous decision
at the beginning of August to approve a Special Exception for NextEra Energy
of Juno Beach, Florida, to build a 150 megawatt solar farm on wooded wetlands.

Here is the press release from their attorney, Jonathan Perry Waters of Macon, Georgia (see also
PDF).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 29, 2019

LANDOWNERS CHALLENGE SOLAR EXCEPTION

Quitman, Georgia— August 29, 2019 — On Monday of this
week, Brooks County Superior Court Judge Richard Cowart signed a
Sanction for a Writ of Certiorari allowing a group of landowners in
Brooks County to file a petition in the Superior Court of the County
challenging the granting of a Special Exception Zoning permit by the
Brooks County Board of Commissioners to Quitman II Solar, LLC to
construct a 1,700 acre solar site in the an Agricultural Zoned area
of the County. Quitman II Solar, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary
of NextEra Energy, of Juno Beach, Florida.

Excellent comments from Okefenokee Swamp Park,
requesting at least three public hearings by the Army Corps,
plus independent research,
in addition to a full Environmental Impact Statement.
When I received them from Dr. Clark last night,
he asked me to circulate them widely; see also PDF.

…The mining company Twin Pines Minerals, LLC [(TPM)], said it plans to employ 150 people, but [Georgia State Representative John] Corbett acknowledged most of the employees will not come from Charlton County.

Did you know Moody Air Force Base had two sewage spills this month?
Thanks to GA-EPD, we knew about them, and Moody AFB posted news reports on both of them.
One went into Mission Lake, upstream from Grand Bay and the Alapaha River.
The other went into Beatty Branch, upstream from Cat Creek and the Withlacoochee River.

Friday we found the warning sign on the Valdosta Country Club green for the Wednesday force main sewage spill,
thanks to Valdosta Utilities Environmental Manager Scott Fowler,
who told me where it was.
Sara Jay has tested downstream for WWALS, and maybe we can get the Valdosta water quality testing data, as well.
Although there is some ambiguity as to which way downstream is.

“Because of the coal plants in Georgia, there’s mercury deposition on the surface of the ground for years. If they go stir all that up, that could run in to the swamp,” said Suwannee Riverkeeper John
Quarterman. “Why should we risk the Okefenokee, its boating, its
fishing, its birding.”

…Last week the Charlton County Board of Commissioners passed a
resolution of support for the project. County officials said the
reason is because Charlton County does not have many industry
opportunities of its own, and many residents leave to surrounding
counties for work. officials said the 150 jobs created from the
project could be beneficial to the county.

The Okefenokee Swamp is the headwater for the Suwannee River, which
is why community members across the region are fighting the
proposal, saying it could have consequences in both states.

Credit for telling the public, but no credit for a very vague report,
in the latest sewage spill in the City of Valdosta.

Every address on Plantation Drive is in the 3300 block,
so that locates the spill only within 4,000 feet.
Valdosta does know the name of that “local stream,”
which is Stillhouse Branch, and where it goes, which is into the Withlacoochee River, upstream from US 41 and Langdale Park.